Starlight
by TheMockingjay111
Summary: Gale is alone. Katniss left him. His family hates him. He ran to district 2 to escape his past, but what happens when his past finds him.   Summary sucks but story is much much MUCH better i promise! :D
1. Chapter 1

**After Mocking Jay**

**Gale and Madge are both in district 2 and yes, she IS alive!**

* * *

Chapter 1

**Gale's POV**

Alone. I am alone. Not one person in this world cares for me.

Katniss left me for Peeta –Mr. Likable- Mellark.

I have been trying to busy myself with my work on rebuilding The Nut but sometimes it just isn't enough.

Luckily, district 2's woods come to my rescue and sometimes I might even spend 6, sometimes 8, hours out there, but I usually will just give the game I catch to the butcher here, Mitch.

"Thanks for the turkeys Thorne," Mitch says to me calling me by the nickname he gave me when I first arrived here.

I just grunt in return while I walk away.

I shove my hands in my pockets and stroll aimlessly down district 2's streets and find myself at the train station.

I see someone step off a train from The Capitol.

I expect this person to be dripping in expensive and unnecessary jewelry, clothes, and make-up, but notice that this person looks normal… almost familiar, but she takes one look at my face and runs off at top speed in the other direction.

I decide that she was probably just surprised at how "dull" this district is compared to The Capitol.

I end up shoving my hands back into my pockets and stroll my way casually to my house. It has only just begun to get dark so I decide to sit outside in my small backyard.

The houses here in district 2 are all pretty big and have better than average bedrooms but it isn't home, and it never truly will be to me.

**2 hours later**

I watched the sun set and went inside.

I took a quick shower and climbed into bed in, what I hoped was a clean pair of boxers.

After a few minutes of staring up at the ceiling, I fall into a semi-awake sleep.

I dream tonight, which is an improvement to the nightmares that haunt me normally.

I dream of my home, in district 12, and my family, Mother, Posy, Vick and Rory.

Rory hasn't wanted to speak to me since my bombs killed Prim but in this particular dream, instead of shouting profanities at me, my entire family is with me and we are all happy.

Even my dad is here and nothing could ruin our family reunion… that is not until the sun starts blinding me through the slats in my window.

It's Saturday today so I don't have to work, but Saturday means I can hunt all day.

I grab my worn out boots, game bag, a thick jacket, and my bow and arrows.

After getting all my gear together it is 5 in the morning and I am walking towards the dense woods I have come to know as my own.

I wander past the line in the ground where district 2's fence once stood.

I trek through the trees and over rocks and eventually get to a fast flowing stream.

I sit down and remove my shoes, roll my pants up to my knees and let the cold water run my troubles out of me.

SNAP! I whip my head around but see nothing.

I hear crackles off leaves and when I look up I see the branch above me wiggling around but then settle.

I carefully and quietly grab my bow, aim…FIRE!

I hear the whimper of prey as it gets hit but, this whimper… it, it sounds…HUMAN!

All goes quiet but then the branch starts to move again.

I step out of the way just as the body comes falling out of the tree, right onto where I had been sitting.

I stare at the person –the girl, who fell out of the tree.

She has long, tangled blonde hair. Her eyes are closed so I can't see their color. She is wearing ripped clothing and boots that seem to hug her feet.

Suddenly I remember where I had seen her before. She was the one to get off the train from The Capitol.

As I look closer at her face I recognize her from somewhere else also.

She… is Madge Undersee, mayor's daughter, presumed dead, the person I hated for most of my life, and the person I just shot with an arrow.

DISCLAIMER: unless you're completely stupid, you know that it's not mine


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Please don't make me say it!**

**Gales POV**

Blood. Blood everywhere. She won't stop bleeding.

After she fell I immediately sat her up against a tree.

Madge wouldn't stop bleeding after that and now it was pooling underneath her.

She started to stir and I took a few steps back.

She tries to move but gasps in pain and flops back onto the tree holding the arrow in her shoulder.

"Don't move it'll only get worse," I warn her gently, "I'm a big girl, I can handle it," she responds hostilely.

She then tried to remove my arrow from her shoulder but only cause herself more pain.

"Don't bother, I made it myself so trust me when I say your only causing yourself more pain by trying," I try to explain but she only persists more.

Eventually she is creating so much pain for herself that she makes herself scream. By this point I am intervening and holding her hands against the tree to prevent her from doing damage.

"Get the hell off me Hawthorne!" she spits in my face, "Not until you promise to stop Madge," I tell her.

When I said her name she stopped struggling and looked into my face with wonder but it disappears as soon as it came and she just glares at me again.

"I didn't even want to see you Hawthorne so why don't you just leave me alone, I can handle this myself!" she shouts angrily but I can tell she needs help.

I scoop her up and ignore her protests against it and insist on taking her back to my house.

"What if people see us?" I sigh, she has brought up a good point, if people see me carrying her with one of my arrows in her shoulder it will look bad.

"Do you have a better Idea?" I ask her impatiently.

She leans her head back in my arms and sighs, "No but… do you have a knife?"

"No," I tell her immediately, "You're not going to cut it out," she just looks at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Not for taking it out but only for cutting the shaft."

I hand her my knife and she begins to saw at the shaft of the arrow.

Once she finishes I give her my coat and walk her through the back alleys to my house.

I get her inside the house and put towels on my bed so she can lie down.

She gasps in pain as she lies down on the bed and more blood dribbles out her wound.

I quickly staunch the flow of blood and grab a sewing kit and some pliers to pull out the arrow head.

"Madge this is gonna hurt but I need you not to scream," I plead as calmly as possible and she nods in response.

She grits her teeth and whimpers as tears roll down her cheeks when I start to use the pliers to pull out the arrow head.

Once I get the arrow head out I immediately start to stitch her up and she relaxes.

"You are covered in blood, you should shower," she nods and makes her way to my bathroom.

I give her a towel and a pair of my clothes to wear and wait until I hear the water running to go downstairs.

I put on a pot of water so I can make tea for her when she gets out but don't know what type she likes.

I hear her footsteps come down the stairs and turn to ask her which tea she wants.

"Hey Madge, what's your…" I stop mid-sentence because this is the first time I've really ever had a good look at her without her being covered in make-up and frills (or blood) and she actually looks… no stop it Gale! You done think of Madge like that.

"Yes?" she asks tapping her barefoot toes on the ground of my kitchen impatiently.

"Uh," I shake my head a little, "What tea would you like?" I finally get out

She just smirks and walks past me; she grabs the nearest box of mint tea and hands it to me.

"This was always my favorite back home…" she trails off at the end and I can see the memories of her parents flash in her eyes but only for a second before she goes and sits down at my table.

She watches patiently as I pour the hot water over the tea in the mugs.

I set hers on the table in front of her and set mine down across from her.

She immediately wraps her hands around the mug and blows on it to cool it a bit.

"Thank you," she finally says, breaking the silence between us.

"For what?" I ask.

"For taking me back here and helping me," she says

"Well it was kind of my fault I had to in the first place," I say playfully.

She just sighs and rubs the stitches on her shoulder where I shot her, "Ya," I suddenly feel really bad for shooting her and realize that I never even apologized, which is odd because I don't feel this way about anyone.

"Hey Madge?" she looks up with the depressed look on that she's had since I first saw her at the train station.

"Ya?" she looks into my eyes with her big blue eyes but they have changed color since I last saw her in district 12. They have grayed.

"I'm very sorry for shooting you, if I had known it was you I swear I wouldn't have done it," What am I doing? I never feel guilty, but I'm saying all this as if I have no control over what I am doing.

I can see the corners of her mouth turn up just a bit.

"I know Gale, I don't blame you, I startled you and you shot me, I knew I shouldn't be spying on you and I chose to anyway, I deserved it,"

"You didn't deserve anything like that and I feel absolutely awful to have caused you so much pain," inside my head I am cussing at myself for saying something so cheesy but she doesn't seem to care because just she looks back down at her tea and takes a small sip.

"Madge…" for the first time in a while I feel very nervous, asking her this question seems wrong but I just have to know.

"Why aren't you dead?" I finally get out.

She chokes on her tea for a moment and after some coughing is able to respond, "You mean after the bombings? I… I had been taken prisoner by The Capitol before the bombs even started dropping," I see the memories of everything they did to her pass before her eyes and a single tear rolls down her cheeks.

She quickly wipes it away, clears her throat, and continues on with her story.

"They had sent a hovercraft to come take me; I was knocked unconscious by one of my captors and woke up chained to a wall in a jail cell in the Capitol," she sighs and closes her eyes but continues anyway.

"Every day they would come to question me and every day I would tell them the same things; eventually they started asking questions about a rebellion I had no idea was going on and when I wouldn't answer their questions… they would…" she stops and starts to sob in her hands.

I immediately jump up from my seat and put my arms protectively around her.

She turns and sobs into my shoulder, "You don't have to tell me I understand," she just nods her head and lets go of my shoulder.

"I hate it when I cry," she tells me, "it makes my eyes and cheeks all puffy and red."

I just hand her a tissue and sit back down from across her.

We finish our tea in silence and when she is done I put both our mugs in the sink.

"You can sleep in my room if u like, I'll take the couch," she just nods and climbs the stairs to my room.

I give help her get comfortable in my room but I can tell she doesn't feel right in here but tonight is not the time to be addressing that.

I grab a spare pillow and blanket and make my way towards the door but steal one last glance back at Madge.

I look at her and no longer see the fragile, frilly mayor's daughter, but instead I see a strong, independent woman capable of taking care of herself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Suffering MAJOR writer's block so any help is accepted!**

**Rated T for a reason in this chapter!(suggestive themes and language)**

**I'm looking for a BETA so if anyone is interested just lemme know and I'll get back to you ASAP! :D**

**Madge's POV**

The moment I had laid down in Gale's bed, the land of sleep overcame me.

_In this particular dream, I am 16 again. Walking through the streets of district 12._

_I get back to my house and my mother is there, but instead of lying in a dark room under the sheets with a morphling IV sticking out of her arm, she is playing the piano, and quite beautifully._

_She is playing a happy tune that my father is singing to and tapping his toes to on the ground. But then the happy tune turns into the Capitol's anthem, and my mother lets out a scream but the music doesn't stop._

_The piano is burning and my parents are burning, so is the house._

_I run outside coughing from all the smoke but President Snow is in my way and he holds my wrist in his hand._

_My wrist feels like it is on fire from his touch but then blood dribbles out of his mouth and he releases my wrist from his grasp._

_I run out of the house and look back expecting to see firebombs dropping on my house but when I turn back I see nothing but the happy home I grew up in._

_I start to walk away slowly but bump into someone. I turn to see who it is and see none other than Gale. But he doesn't notice me because he is… kissing Katniss!_

_Then Peeta walks up to Gale and stabs him, flat out stabs him in the stomach._

_Gale falls to the ground and Peeta continues stabbing and punching him._

_I look away but peek through my fingers at the spot where they were and see nothing but grass._

_I collapse to my knees and sobs wrack my body. The whole world is getting cold now; I can see my breath and feel my tears freezing on my face._

_I look up from my hands and see snow on the ground._

_I pick up a handful of snow but when I look closer at it, I see President Snow on each flake._

_I drop the snow and back up, hyperventilating._

_I back into a tree and look around to see that I am on the edge of a forest._

_To my left is a field and to my right is a mountainous region. I look in front of me and see... the golden cornucopia with its weapons and supplies spread out around it._

_I see Katniss, Peeta, and all the other tributes from the games. I hear the gong sound and all of them turn into wolf mutts._

_They all set their sights on me and begin to charge._

_I sword appears in my hand and I fight all of them off until I get to the Katniss wolf._

"_Madge," she cries, "Madge don't kill me!" she is screaming at the top of her lungs in pain and when I look at her I see that my sword is plunged through her stomach only she isn't a wolf mutt anymore, she is the Katniss I grew up with and Gale and Peeta walk out of the forest behind her._

"_Why Madge!" Peeta cries, bending over Katniss' limp body._

"_This is all your fault Madge," is all Gale says to me before he strings an arrow on his bow, and releases it into my shoulder._

_I feel the pain in my shoulder again and when I pull my hands away they are covered in blood._

_I fall backwards into a tree. I can't breathe anymore._

_My eyes slowly shut, never to open again._

But they do open again and when they open Gale is holding my hand next to me.

He is whispering to me but I can't hear him. I sit up and he looks at me with pity in his eyes.

I remember what he did to me in the dream and pull my hand away immediately.

I back away on my hands to the other side of his bed. I don't take my eyes away from him until he starts walking towards me with his hand out.

I bury my head in between my knees while I cry.

I flinch and hold my breath when I feel his arms wrap around me.

"Don't hurt me…" I whisper pleadingly, "Please don't hurt me."

He starts to rub in circles on my back and just knowing that he isn't a threat to me and doesn't want me dead calms me down a bit.

"I'm sorry Gale. It's my fault we're both alone now, I'm sorry" I tell him.

"No, you're not the one who should be apologizing," he says soothingly to me, "I should be apologizing because of all the pain I have caused you and countless others. I am the one who's sorry Madge."

I wipe all the tears from my face and look into his deep grey eyes.

They have lost all the shine they once held and I can't help but feel sorry for him.

He grabs my hand again and gives it one quick squeeze before getting off the bed and gesturing to the door.

He hands me my boots and his jacket before we leave.

"Where are we going?" I ask him in a whisper.

All he does is shake his head and picks up his pace.

I struggle to keep up with him but when we finally get to the butcher's he stops.

"Come inside, there's someone I want you to meet." I stare at him questioningly but to my surprise he just chuckles and walks in.

I follow and hear the ring of a bell above me.

"Thorne that you?" I hear a man bellow from a back room, "I didn't think you'd…" he stops when he comes out of the back and sees me standing here.

"Oh, and who is this?" he looks at Gale with an expression of surprise and back to me then back to Gale and begins to laugh.

"Who ever thought that Thorne here would pick up some fair haired beauty?" I blush a bit when he says that but Gale just seems to laugh along with him.

"Mitch this is Madge; Madge, Mitch" he gestures to both of us in turn and Mitch extends a leathery hand to shake.

"Strong one she is," Mitch tells Gale in surprise, "So you going hunting or what?" he asks.

"Yes but I was wondering if you had any spare bows for Madge," Gale explains.

"Sure I have plenty, just let me go get Ryan," and Mitch walks off.

"I'll be right back with my bow, Mitch will help you get your first one and then we can go,"

I just nod and he leaves.

Just as Gale leaves down the stairs walks the man who I'm guessing is Ryan.

"Hi I'm Ryan," he extends a hand to shake, "Madge" I reply while shaking his hand.

"Follow me to the back and we can get you fitted with your own bow in no time," he winks at me but I have no idea what it's for so I just follow him into the back.

"Wow!" I gasp when I see how many different shapes and sizes the bows come in, "This is amazing," I say while bending down to grab a smaller bow from the floor.

Click. I hear the lock on the door to the room we're in snap in place.

"What are you doing?" I question him.

"What do you think darling?" he sneers at me.

"Stay away from me or I'll scream," I warn him while backing towards a wall.

"Oh I think screaming will be quite difficult when your mouth is preoccupied," he says plainly.

I bump into the wall and there is nowhere else to go.

"Mit…" my screams for Mitch are cut short by Ryan's lips crashing into mine. He grabs my hands and pins them to the wall behind me.

I knee him in the stomach and scream out "HELP!" once before Ryan has his lips on mine again.

He is much taller than me and he uses that to his advantage by pressing me to the wall.

I struggle against him while I hear Mitch on the other side of the door shouting at Ryan to open the door.

"Help!" I shout again when Ryan backs off for one second but he silences me with a fist.

I fall to the floor holding the side of my face in my hands.

"Gale!" I shout out but my cries are met by a kick to the stomach.

I double over in pain and crumple into a ball in the corner.

I am about ready to give up when I hear Gale yelling through the door. "Let me in Ryan or I'll break the door down!" Gale shouts through the door and I can't help but grin.

"What're YOU smiling at girly?" Ryan questions angrily and I am met with another kick to the stomach.

I am starting to black out and feel Ryan lifting my shirt when Gale breaks down the door with his foot and hear him say "Get the hell away from her you bastard!"

I hear the whistle of an arrow, Ryan scream in pain, and feel Gale cradle me in his arms "Madge!"

Everything looks like it's moving in slow motion.

I see Gale's mouth moving but hear no sound coming out.

He's shaking his head no but I can't read his lips.

My eyes are getting heavier.

The pain in my stomach is overwhelming now and I press my hands to my stomach.

I look down with every ounce of strength I have left and see blood all over my hand.

This is the last thing I see before I black out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Gales POV**

"Madge!" I collapse to my knees and take her up in my arms.

She looks like she's been punched in the side of the face and her stomach is bleeding heavily.

"Madge, Madge it's me your safe now" her head is rolling from side to side and she keeps gasping in pain.

Her eyes start to droop, "No Madge don't sleep, don't go to sleep Madge,"

I am trying to stay as calm as possible but for some reason I just can't keep myself together.

"Madge stay with me!" I am holding her face in my hands begging her not to sleep.

She clenches her stomach and looks down once before she passes out.

"Mitch, do something with Ryan, I have to get her to the hospital," I say as I run out the door with Madge in my arms.

People are giving us sideways glances as I run through the streets towards the hospital but I don't care, Madge's safety is all I can think of right now.

I get to the hospital and push through the doors.

"What hap…" a nurse begins to ask running towards me with a bed on wheels.

"I'll explain later, just help her now," the nurse nods and runs off with a crowd of doctors in tow.

I go and sit in their waiting area.

I sigh and put my head in my hands and just sit like that until I hear a nurse coming towards me.

I look up and she hands me a glass of water.

"How is she?" I ask hoping that she will just tell me that she's fine and can go home soon, but of course, this isn't the case.

"I'm sorry sir but she's in critical condition and we're having trouble keeping her heart going. She needs surgery to remove her appendix and has a serious concussion," I grab my hair in my hands and pull at it as hard as I can hoping that this is all one bad dream and if I pull hard enough it will go away.

"Sir we need you to tell us what happened," she says in a calm voice.

I take a sip of the water and clear my throat, "She was in the back of the butcher's shop with a man named Ryan," she nods her head while writing this down, "He was trying to…" I think about my word choice before I continue, "…assault her," the nurse looks up shocked, "But I stopped him before he could do anything else," the nurse looks relieved and goes back to writing.

"Thank you Mr…"

"Hawthorne, Gale Hawthorne" I tell her and realization dawns on her face.

"Oh I'm sorry Mr. Hawthorne. Would you like to come see her?"

I just nod and follow her through the doors labeled critical care.

Madge is lying unconscious on a bed with stitches on her exposed stomach with various tubes and wires attached to her.

"Madge…" I whisper while pressing my hands on the glass wall between us.

"I'm so sorry Madge," I whisper again and close my eyes holding back the tears wanting to burst through.

"Mr. Hawthorne, she needs that surgery but it's 15,000 dollars," my jaw drops at the news of the price.

"I don't have that kind of money," I only get paid 200 dollars a month for the work I do.

"What if I can't get you the money?" I ask hoping for her to offer some kind of way to pay it off later but, as always, the odds are definitely NOT in my favor!

"Then we couldn't do the surgery. You know how doctors are, always wanting more money and I already talked to the doctor about the money but he won't do it unless you pay for it. I truly am sorry for both of you," she says but I don't blame her. All the surgeons here are from the capitol and this nurse couldn't do anything about that.

"I'll get you the money," I say clenching my fists at my side and storm out of the hospital towards the butchers.

"Mitch!" I shout angrily and he shouts back from the room where I left him, "back here!"

I storm back to that room and see Ryan still cowering in the corner.

"You…" I say pointing at Ryan while I pull a knife off the wall and he flinches backwards, hitting his head on the wall, I chuckle "You caused some really bad injuries Ryan," he laughs at this but I just continue pointing the knife at him again.

"She needs surgery Ryan, that's not very funny to me. Is it Mitch?" I ask turning to Mitch who looks indifferent at the idea of me dissembling one of his employees. "Not unless you have some sick twisted mine," he responds angrily.

"Did little Ryan hurt your girlfriend?" Ryan teases.

"She's not my girlfriend smart-ass" I say hostilely but I see him smirk out of the corner off my eye.

I throw my knife and it lodges itself half an inch to the left of his head. His smirk immediately turns to a look of fear at seeing how serious about killing him I really am.

"She needs $15,000 surgery and your gonna pay for it," he opens his mouth to speak, takes one look at the knife next to his head and shuts it rather quickly.

"I'll pay if you don't go to the police," Ryan says with his head down.

Mitch opens his mouth to speak but I respond before he has the chance, "Deal,"

"Gale can I speak to you?" Mitch says, gesturing to the door.

I walk out the door and wait for him to shut the door to start talking, "I need to get that money at all costs and he's gonna help me get it Mitch so no objections!" I half whisper half yell at him.

"I'll help too Gale," and he walks over to his counter.

He bends down and I see what he's getting.

He grabs a large box and hands it to me, "$10,000 Gale, use it well,"

"Thank you Mitch," he just nods and walks back into the back room.

I set the box down on the counter and grab one of the clean looking towels from next to it.

When I walk back into the back room I grab a pair of pliers off the wall and walk over to Ryan.

"Wh… what are those for? I thought we had a deal?" he says, obviously afraid of me.

I hold his ankle down with my knee and position the pliers around the arrow head buried in his leg.

"Hold still and you'll find out soon."

**WOOO! I think this ending was pretty good but if you didn't think so then let me know! :D **


	5. Chapter 5

**The next day**

**Had to edit this cause i put a request at end but other than that nothing much changed**

**Now for the story!**

**Disclaimer: WAAAAHHH! I don't own the Hunger Games!**

**Gale's POV:**

I'm walking towards my house with Ryan in tow.

Since yesterday he's had a slight limp but I'll let him keep it as a reminder of what he tried to do.

"Wait here," I grumble and leave him standing outside my door.

I set the box Mitch gave me down on a chair and open a cabinet above my stove.

I reach in and find the glass jars I've filled with money over the years.

I dump each jar out and begin to count.

100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, next jar, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000 and so on.

I do this for all 5 jars and count up $4,000.

I guess Mitch and I have made Ryan's job pretty easy. I smirk because this will be anything but easy for him.

**I know short chapter and I mean REALLY short compared to my other chapters but I posted this one with the 4****th**** one so don't bug me about it! Thx for reading :D**

**Any ideas for jobs for Ryan to do? Review or PM me with ideas and I'll put my fav. In a poll for u to vote on. Thx!**


	6. NOT A CHAPTER! NOTICE!

NO ONE VOTED! I feel so hated. :(

But enough of the sadness because, drum roll please… Sunday is my birthday it's May 8th (yes it's on mother's day and in case you people don't remember from the first HG book it's also Katniss' birthday)

Wish my a happy birthday and I just might try to write the next chapter but I need suggestions because I have SUPER! Writers block and it's killing me.

Sorry if this isn't what you all wanted but I need ideas and I'm out so… REVIEW AND THX! :D


	7. Chapter 6 sorry for the wait

**Damn it was so long ago that I got this review that I forgot who to give credit to but I'll look and see if I can find it but if you gave me the pig's pen idea then review or PM me and I'll give you the credit you deserve :D**

**Gale's POV**

"I have to WHAT!" Ryan exclaims in anger at finding out his new job.

"There's a farmer here named Phil who needs a farm-hand and I signed you up. Mitch and I will be trying to get every cent we can get but you're going to work for this man for the next few months unless that is, you want us to call the peacekeepers," he just flicks me off and walks up to Phil's door.

Phil opens the door and the first thing he sees is Ryan, he glares. I told him everything that happened and he isn't too happy with him but he's willing to give him work because he really does need the help and this is as brutal a punishment I could legally give.

"I'll keep him in his place Gale!" Phil shouts around Ryan and pushes him inside. As well as a punishment, this will be a test of Ryan's self-control because Phil's got a daughter whose Ryan's age that helps around the house. Oh this should be good.

I run off to the Nut where Beetee is waiting outside for me and holds out a stack of blue-prints for me to approve and edit. I run past him, grabbing the stack as I go and rush into my office where I immediately start going over the ideas of how these weapons should work and what purpose they would be used for.

I do this for 3 hours straight before I run out of stuff to work on, so I organize all the blueprints and my notes and bring them back to Beetee in his office.

"Done already? I wasn't expecting the-"

"Do you have anything else for me to work on? I really need the money, quick." He looks taken back by my eagerness.

"Gale… what's up with you? You've been acting odd lately and taking your problems out on your job isn't good for you. Talk to me, it'll probably help a lot." Sighing, I start to tell him everything that's happened over the last few days, starting with the day I shot Madge in the woods.

_**Half an hour later**_

"I guess I'm just anxious to get that last bit of money for her surgery," for the last half hour he's sat in his chair and listened and I almost feel bad for taking up his time but it really did feel good to get all that off my chest.

"But why are you doing all this for a girl you never liked when you were younger?" I shrugged.

"I guess I just feel responsible for all that's happened to her and she didn't deserve all that stuff I said to her when we were kids…" he pauses a moment and soaks all this in but then gets an all knowing smile on him and looks at me like he knows something that I don't.

"Gale there has to be some other reason you're doing this for her," it takes me a moment to understand what he's talking about but then it clicks, "No! I'm not interested in her Beetee, I can't even think about other girls like that after…Katniss," I knew this was a bad idea, I'm somehow always digging up bad memories of Katniss, the Katniss I loved, the Katniss I left, the Katniss that hates me. Scratch all previous feelings of relief, I feel even worse now than I did before I started talking.

"Gale listen, I'm not trying to tell you who you should be with but I know you do care about her and after hearing about all the trouble you've gone through just for her I think I'll pay for her whole surgery, as a gift for you both." I guess I'll have Ryan work off 5 thousand on the farm and I could take it as repayment for what he owes me and as debt for putting Madge in the hospital in the first place but I can give Mitch back his money … "No, not all of it, I'm still going to pay for a bit of it, as much as I can. I owe it to her and I hate owing people things."He handed me 10,000 dollars and tells me I have the next week off work to help Madge recover, 'paid leave' he called it so I guess that's sort of a plus.

Taking a deep breath, I walk over to the hospital and pay for her surgery, now all there's left to do it wait for them to let me see her.

**After surgery: Madge's POV**

Everything hurts.

After my I woke up in the recovery wing I saw Gale asleep in a chair in a corner.

I try and grab the glass of water on the table next to me but when I reach for it I just hurt myself and gasp loudly.

Falling back onto my pillow I stare at the pattern on the ceiling, counting the dots.

After what feels like an eternity, Gale finally wakes up.

Groaning, I roll over onto my side to see him better.

"Hi," I whisper in pain.

"Hey," he says through a yawn, "How you feel?"

"Just peachy, I just love having my insides scooped out, messed with, and put back inside me. I should do this more often."

"Sorry, dumb question."I nod, "Ya think?" I gasp again as another wave of pain wracks my body.

"On a scale of 1-10 how bad does it hurt with 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life?" he asks me.

"Three!" I almost yell. "Wimp!" he begins, "How is a three that bad of a pain you're almost crying?"

I stare angrily at him, he may never understand, "The Capitol is…was a very cruel place full of unspeakable means of torture, don't call me a wimp, I would've taken your lashings all those years ago over the pain and suffering I went through in the Capitol." He just stares at me solemnly, most likely remembering the whipping he endured but I'm right. He has never, nor ever will, feel the same pains I did and always will feel because of them.

"I'm sor-" "Sorry doesn't cut it!" I yell, "You can't even begin to understand the pain I went through there!" he pauses for a long time and clenches and unclenches his fists at his sides, probably debating whether or not to punch me right now.

"Then tell me so I _can_ understand. Please Madge." He begs.

I give up! He won't get it until I tell him so I might as well get this over with.

"The first week they didn't give me anything to eat and only gave me water every other day, that part was to make me weak so I couldn't fight back, then they blindfolded me and questioned me about the rebellion and who was involved and when I didn't give them the answers they were looking for they would slice me, it was somewhere different every time, that part was to break me down mentally," tears well up in my eyes and Gale starts to tell me to stop but I just hold up my hand, take a drink of water when he hands me the glass and continue.

"By the third week I was bloody, tired, hungry, thirsty, and sick. I had an infection in all of the cuts and I hadn't seen any form of light since they kidnapped me. I wasn't alone though, they had also grabbed my parents and I could hear their screams but they weren't the fake ones that the Capitol creates, I watched them torture my parents right in front of me," this time a tear escapes my left eye but I quickly wipe it away hoping Gale didn't see but I know he probably did.

"After what I had guessed had been a month they had killed my parents in front of me, cut me, electrocuted me, violated me, broken every bone in my body at least 3 times, whipped me, kicked me, deprived me, and chained me to a wall that when I moved more than 4 feet from I would get burned on my wrists and ankles. Then the President wanted to see me. He and 4 peacekeepers came to my cell and each peacekeeper took either a leg or an arm and carried me to his dining room where he questioned me…about you and Katniss," he flinches at her name but doesn't do anything else so I keep going, "I knew that you both were involved but I protected you, and do you know why?" he stayed silent, "Because you both worked hard to survive when we were kids and then into your teens, the Capitol needed to be stopped and if I had told him exactly who you were he would've kept pressing for information until I told him everything. So I didn't tell him…he stabbed me in the leg, the same spot where Peeta was cut by Cato in the games and as the peacekeepers carried me back to my cell I watched the ground as I left a trail of blood. Once I was back in my cell there was always a peacekeeper there." I can see anger boiling in Gale's eyes while I speak and it kind of frightens me but I need to be strong and keep going.

"He said I deserved that and that I was so spoiled growing up while everyone else suffered that I should just have died right then and there and I started to believe him after a while. I couldn't feel any pain anymore and they stopped feeding me, I could see all my crooked bones and could even tell where each spot where they had broken them was. I had lost all hope of ever leaving and one day I just decided I was going to die so I went to sleep and fully intended to never wake up." This time I think I can see tears welling up in Gale's eyes but that must be my eyes playing tricks on me.

"I obviously didn't end up dying, but when I did wake up I was in a hospital in 13, they caught me up to speed on everything that had happened and told me that we had won the Rebellion, I was so happy I cried. Over several more months I had gone into many more surgeries where they fixed all of my bones so I wouldn't have much more trouble with them and then I was released from the hospital. I left for here, District 2, thinking nobody I knew besides Katniss and Peeta had made it out of the rebellion alive and I knew that I would be assumed dead so if I ran into them here I could just pretend I was someone else but then I saw you and I just didn't know what I should do so I ran and watched you to be sure I hadn't just seen someone else who looked like you but it was the day you shot me I was sure," we both chuckle a bit but I try my hardest not to since it just hurts my side more, "Then all this crap started happening to me and I'm starting to believe that the world is just dead set against me ever wanting to be happy again so I've just come to accept that I don't deserve happiness and that I should just stay out of everyone else's lives or I end up hurt."

" I never kne-" "I'm sorry sir but visiting hours ended 30 minutes ago, I have to ask you to leave," a nurse interrupts Gale when he finally gets .

"You should go, just be sure to come back early tomorrow," I say trying my hardest to maintain a smile while he goes but it's hard seeing my only visitor leave so soon after he got here.

"Night Madge," he says as he shuts the door behind him, "Night," I say even though he's already gone and probably won't hear me.

**Gale's POV on the way back home**

She's so stupid; of course she deserves to be happy! Yet another reason to hate the Capitol, they put all those false thoughts in her head. It's like Peeta's hijacking only I guess with less murderous intent.

By the time I get home Ryan's waiting by the door, leaning on the side of my house, looking pissed. "Here's my pay for today, I'll stop by every day until I've paid you everything I owe. Bye." He says before stalking off.

I count out everything he gave me and it adds up to about 200 dollars, at least I'll get it all back soon I guess.

Leaving the money on my table I head up to my room to go to sleep.

I change into some comfortable pajamas and lay down on the bed but no matter how hard I try I just can't fall asleep because of how guilty I feel that she thinks she deserves to be miserable for the rest of her life. Ugh how can one girl do this to me, I thought I would only think about Katniss like this but I guess I never really got close enough to any other girls to think so much about them and their lives.

This is going to be a long night.

**Yes, yes I'm evil I know. I starved you of my story but don't worry because it's back and I made up for all the wait with a super long chapter so yay! *dances in a little circle* now click that little review button down there and make me smile :)**


	8. its done, take it! all yours readers

**I know you're all going to hate me after this but this goes for all my stories, i'm giving them all away, lifes gotten too hectic and i'm not gonna give anyone any consequences if you take it just say that it was originally mine and that i deleted my account, you have 7 days from Tue, september 6, 2011. have fun! sorry guys.**


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